Folding chair.



G. J. GULLIGKSON.

FOLDING CHAIR. APPLIOATION HLED DBO. so, 1907.

929,213. l Y Patented July 27,1999.

A me

/lllllhff mq AAAAAAAAAA u eo. Pumum AAAAAAAAAAAAA umu. D. a

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

C. J. GULLIGKSON.

FOLDING CHAIR.

APPLIOATION FILED 1330.30, 1907.

929,21 3. Patented July 27, 1909.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

PATENT FFICE.

CHARLES J. GULLICKSON, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

FOLDING CHAIR.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES J. GULLIOK- SON, a citizen of the UnitedStates, and a resident of Chicago, in the county of Cook and lState ofIllinois, have invented certain new and' useful Improvements in FoldingChairs; and I do hereby declare that the fol owing is a full, clear, andexact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanyingdrawings, and to the numerals of reference marked thereon, which form apart of this specification.

This invention relates to improvements in folding chairs and theinvention consists in the matters hereinafter set forth and moreparticularly pointed out in the appended claim.

Among the objects of the invention is to produce a folding chair whichis capable of bein folded in compact form to occupy a smal space for thepurpose of storage and shipment, and which, when set up for use,possesses substantially the strength and rigidity of a non-foldingchair.

In the drawings Figure 1 is a perspective view of a chair embodying myinvention. Fig. y2 is a vertical section thereof. Fig. 3 is a horizontalsection, taken on line 3 3 of Fig.. 2', indicating in full and dottedlines the open and folded positions, respectively, of the chair. Fig. 4is a detail View illustrating the manner of hinging the chair rounds tothe front legs and the manner of interlocking the front legs with theseat member. Fig. 5 is a top plan view of the hinge connection betweenthe chair round and the front leg. Fig. 6 is a perspective view of oneof the chair rounds. Fig. 7 is a perspective view of one of the frontlegs of the chair. Fig. 8 is a view in elevation of the upper end of oneof the front legs showing a modification of the means for connecting theleg with the seat member.

As shownin the drawings, 1() designates the chair-back, 11 the seat, 12,12 the rear legs, and 13, 13 the front legs thereof. The rear legs 12are shown as made integral parts of the side members 14, 14 of thechair-back, in a familiar manner. The two rear legs 12 are connected bymeans of a round 15 attached rigidly at its ends to said legs and theback members 14 are in a like manner connected by cross members 16, 16which extend between and are fixed rigidly at their ends to said sidemembers 14. The front legs are secured together by means of roundsSpecification of Letters Patent.

Application filed December 30, 1907.

Patented July 27', 1909'.

Serial N0. 408,472.

18, 18 which are attached rigidly at their ends to said front legs. Thefront legs of the chair are connected with the rear legs, at the sidesof the chair, by means of upper and lower rounds 20, 20 which havehinged connection at their front and rear ends with the front and rearlegs, respectively, in any suitable manner permitting the front legs andsaid side rounds to be swung laterally with respect to the rear legs.The seat comprises a rectangular closed frame 22 and a seatboard 23lying on and attached thereto. The seat frame 22 rests on the upperhinged or side rounds 20, 20 and the upper ends o the front legs 13 andis hinged atv its rear margin to the lower cross-member 16 of the chairback by hinges 25, whereby said seat may be swung upwardly against thechair back into the position indicated in dotted lines in Fig. 2.

The manner of hinging the upper and lower si'de rounds'to the front andrear legs consists, as herein shown, of U-shaped hinge strapsor loops26, 26', which are fitted over the ends of said rounds and extend attheir closed portions beyond said ends. Said rounds 20 are formed attheir ends with hori- Zontally concave recesses between which and theclosed ends o-f the hingev straps or loops are formed openings 27 whichengage and in which have bearing reduced cylindric bearing portions 30,31 at the upper and lower ends, respectively, of the front and rearcha-ir legs, thev square form of legs herein shown being turned down toprovide such reduced portions. The said hinge straps or loops areattached to the rounds by means of bolts 28 which extend transverselythrough the side members of the loops and the ends of said rounds.Preferably the ends of said rounds are recessed to receive the sidemernbers of the hinge loops, thus bringing the sides of the loops flushwith the side faces of said rounds.

The upper ends of the front legs are shown as provided, above the upperbearing portions 30, with lugs or tenons 33 which enter downwardlyopening mortises or sockets 34 in the underside of the seat frame 22when the seat is in its normal or lowermost position.. This constructionprovides an interlocking connection between the seat frame and the frontlegs which prevents said legs from swinging sidewise and holds themrigidly in position. rIlhe connection of the hinged loops with thereduced bearing portions of the rear legs and at the lower ends of thefront legs is such as to hold the hinged rounds vertically in place. Inorder to prevent the forward hinges of the upper rounds from rising offthe upper bearings of the frontV legs when the seat is thrownbaclrwardly, may provide washers 35, which are 'fitted to the upper endsof the legs around the tenons or lugs 33 thereof and overlap the strapor loop hinges in the manner clearly'shown in Fig. 4. In lieu of theconstruction described I may employ the arrangement shown in Fig. 8,which comprises a circular plate or disk 36 fixed to the upper plain endof the leg 13 above the reduced bearing 30, and is itself provided withan integral, upwardly extending lug 37 which constitutes a tenon adaptedto enter the socket 34 of the seat frame.

The position of the several parts of the chair when set up in readinessfor use is shown in Fig. l, from which it will be observed that thechair has the general appearance of an ordinary wooden chair, and thatthe legs of the chair are connected together and with the hinged seat insuch manner as to effectively brace the chair from stress tending tocollapse it. When it is desired to fold the chair, the seat 11 is firstthrown upwardly to the position indicated in dotted lines in Fig. 2.Thereafter the front legs and the side rounds are swung sidewise, ineither direction desired, about the hinge bearings of the rear legs in amanner to bring one of the front legs into the plane of the rear legsand to bring the other front leg in front of and against the other rearleg,as clearly shown in Fig. 3. This movement of the front legs ispermitted by reason of the hinged connection of the forward ends of saidside rounds to said front legs. When the chair is folded in this mannerit occupies a space of a depth from front to rear not substantiallygreater than twice the thickness of the legs, as will be apparent fromaninspection of Fig. 3. A large numberof chairs folded in this manner mayobviously be piled or packed closely one upon the other to occupy aminimum space.

VVfhile said chair is capable of being so folded,

its construction is such that when set up in readiness for use it ispractically as rigid and strong as a chair in which the legs and roundsare rigidly fixed together, as in ordinary chair constructions.

The structural details of the chair may be somewhat varied without dearting from the spirit of my invention and F do not wish to be limitedto such details except as hereinafter made the subject of specificclaims.

I claim as my invention:-

In a folding chair, a pair of front legs, a pair of rear legs, front andrear rounds extending directly between and xedly and rigidly attached tothe legs of the front and rear pairs, respectively, upper and lower siderounds hinged at their front and rear ends to the front and rear legs toswing horizontally,

the rear legs being extended upwardly to form parts of the chair back,and a seat member hinged at its rear margin to the back to swingupwardly thereagainst and adapted to rest at its forward side on theupper ends of the front legs, said seat member resting on and beingsupported at its side margin on the upper hinged side rounds, andinterfitting connection between the forward marginal part of said seatmember and the upper ends of the front legs.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my invention I affix mysignature in the presence of two witnesses, this 24th day of December A.D. 1907.

CHARLES J. GULLICKSON.

Witnesses:

Gr. R. WILKINs, T. H. ALFRnDs.

